The Social Economy is an economy in service of people and nature. It is primarily oriented towards meeting concrete needs rather than generating financial profit. How to conduct business in order to meet these needs is decided democratically or participatively – by those who use the services of Social Economy enterprises and/or organisations and/or by their employees. Any profits or surpluses are therefore predominantly reinvested rather than distributed to investors. The Social Economy exists across sectors from industry to agriculture, and can be found in banking as well as in retail or construction, in insurance and in the field of social services. It describes an alternative way of doing business...

The present Social Economy Declaration is the result of a process that began with the 1st Austrian Social Economy Conference in November 2022. The 42 co-organisers were involved in drafting the Social Economy Declaration, which was subject to a public consultation from mid-May to the end of June 2023. All co-organisers were invited to participate in the final editing of the document. The editorial team considered the submissions received and developed the declaration further on that basis. The resulting document is therefore not a text by the editorial team, but a work by many. The co-organisers and other stakeholders were subsequently invited to sign the document.

Read the Social Economy Declaration here!